Looking in a Mirror from Long Ago
by embroiderama
Summary: Seattle, 2021, Sam & Dean go get a drink at a bar called Crash. Dark Angel crossover


Alec felt somebody staring at him. He stifled a sigh, really wasn't in the mood for a fight. Alec put his drink down but didn't turn away from the bar, watching the room around him through his peripheral vision. Tall older guy with stupid shaggy hair over at a table, staring from behind his beer. Great. As much as he wasn't in the mood for a fight, he really wasn't in the mood to be cruised by a dude, either. Especially not a guy with almost as much hair as Joshua.

* * *

Dean walked back from the men's room and sat down a the table Sam had claimed. Looking toward the bar, Dean tried to figure out why Sam was staring at the punk kid sitting there nursing a whiskey.

"I know it's not as easy to find a date as it was ten years ago, but there are women out there for you yet, Sammy. You don't have to jump the fence."

Sam cut an exasperated glance over at Dean and then resumed staring at the kid with the popped collar. "You, uh, you plant any seeds you never told me about? Twenty years ago or so?"

"Huh?"

"That guy at the bar, he looks just like you. I mean just. Like. You did, when I was in high school maybe. It's kind of creepy."

"As creepy as that humanoid killer crocodile thing we were hunting down in the sewer last night?"

"Man, this is a whole other division of creepy. We've seen a lot of scary monsters over the years, but this is the first time I felt like I was looking into the past."

"I don't know, all I can see is the back of the kid's head." Then the kid turned his head and Dean caught sight of a smooth, unmarred face he hadn't seen in twenty years. "Holy shit."

"You see?"

"Yeah, I see what you mean. It's just wrong--nobody but me should be that pretty."

"You always did have a high opinion of yourself."

"Just calling it like I see it." Dean looked back at the kid again, saw that he was scoping the room, knew he was being watched. Huh. "I'm going over to say hi to Junior."

"Just try not to actually insult his mother while you're at it."

"Yeah." Dean rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the tip."

* * *

Alec took another sip of his drink and then pursed his lips in annoyance. Now the shaggy dude's friend was on his way over, and Alec was going to have to break the news that he wasn't interested in a threesome. He watched the guy sit down two stools over and started talking as he turned on his own stool.

"Hey, I understand why you think I'd make a good filling for your sand--whoa." Alec cut off as he finally got a good look at the guy. He had some wrinkles and scars Alec had never imagined seeing on his own face, but everything else was the same. Exactly the same.

"Heh. So, what are you--X2? I didn't know I was copied from an older version."

"X what?" The guy looked confused--taking the act way too far. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"You know, Manticore."

"Manti--the creature? I've never seen one of those, figured they were extinct, at least in North America."

Now it was Alec's turn to be confused. There's definitely no such thing as any mashed-up mythological creature, at least not unless Sandeman and the other egg-heads at Manticore made them. Well, one way to be sure.

"Dude, show me the back of your neck."

"What? Why?"

"Just put it down to the voices in my head. You mind?"

"Whatever." The guy twisted on his barstool and showed Alec the back of this neck, t-shirt riding low enough to show somewhat creased but blank skin where a barcode should be. Alex reached out a finger and touched--even if the barcode was hidden or removed by laser, he could always detect it with his fingertips. Nothing.

"Huh. Okay, never mind about all that."

"Are you done feeling me up, son?"

Alec snorted out a laugh. "I can promise you I'm not your son."

"Don't be so sure. I always tried to stay away from married women, but you never know, dude."

As though Alec had anything so simple as a mother or a father. "You can believe what you want, but I promise you you're wrong."

The guy looked like he wanted to argue, then he shrugged and signaled to the bartender for a drink. "Eh, whatever. You gotta admit it's weird."

"Seen weirder."

"Yeah," the guy grinned, "me too. So, you have a name?"

"Alec. You?"

"Dean. That freak who was staring at you before is my brother Sam."

"I can't see the family resemblance--too much hair."

"Ha," Dean barked out a laugh. "That's an issue I gave up fighting about when you were still watching Saturday morning cartoons."

Or indoctrination videos. Whatever. Wait…Dean? Alec had heard that name before. "You're Dean Winchester?"

Dean looked surprised, and wary. "Uh, yeah. My reputation preceding me?"

"Sort of. Few months ago, I ran into this crazy--I mean totally batshit--waitress, who came screaming after me, calling me Dean and saying something about pictures in attics. Didn't make any freakin' sense, but I got the feeling she wasn't too pleased with me. Er, you."

"Heh-heh! Ah, man, I slept with a lot of crazy waitresses over the years; could have been anybody."

"Great. I can never go into a restaurant again."

"Sorry, dude. Didn't know at the time that I had a young look-alike who'd have to suffer for my transgressions."

Alec shrugged and drank down a slug of whiskey. "Well, guess I'll just have to keep eating in bars."

"Good luck. I screwed a lot of hot bartender chicks, too."

Alec reached his glass out to clink against Dean's. "Good thing I'm used to living dangerously."


End file.
